Highlights of the NASBP Fly-in

On June 10, NASBP hosted another successful Legislative Fly-in. This
year 65 attendees met with 60 different federal congressional offices. NASBP was
happy to welcome several NASBP members, who were visiting their legislators for the
first time. See pictures below.

NASBP was proud to feature four U.S. legislators and one House staffer at
this year’s morning briefing. They were:

U.S. Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO-6th)

U.S. Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH-1st)

U.S. Representative Rick Allen (R-GA-12th)

U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy (D-FL-18th)

JP Mason, Senior Legislative Assistant to Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO-6th)

Each of the invited Representatives provided updates on issues, such as the
transportation bill and federal funding of construction projects. They also described their work in the construction industry prior to being elected to office.

Coffman described his efforts to keep the Veterans Affairs hospital project in Aurora, Colorado from
shutting down due to mismanagement. Coffman has been a leading voice about the federal agency's problems nationally and, in particular, the problems at the medical center, where a construction project, meant to replace the aging
facility, has seen its cost nearly triple from an original estimate of $600
million to the recent estimate by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of $1.73
billion.

Chabot discussed his leadership as Chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee to
increase opportunities for small businesses, to prevent government waste and
fraudulent transactions, and to grow federal public-private partnerships (P3), as well as his support of H.R. 838, the Security in Bonding Act, which he is a
co-sponsor.

The third speaker, Allen, who is the past president of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) chapter, AGC Georgia. Prior
to Allen's election, the Congressman built his
own business from the ground up. At the age of 25, he founded the
construction company R.W. Allen & Associates, which has enhanced economic
development in Georgia by creating jobs in the communities of the cities of Augusta and
Athens for more than 35 years.

Murphy is the co-founder of the United Solutions Caucus, which is a group of
over 30 like-minded members, both Democrats and Republicans, who are focused
on finding long-term solutions to fiscal issues. One of the group's major
legislative initiatives is the SAVE Act, which will cut $479 billion in
wasteful government spending. His comments to Fly-in attendees focused on the
importance of maintaining bipartisan efforts despite a divided Congress.

Finally, JP Mason discussed his work in the Congressman Sam Graves’ personal
office, handling issues such as transportation, energy, agriculture and
healthcare. He is currently Congressman Graves’ Senior Legislative Assistant
with a focus on highway issues. Mason described the surety and construction industry issues that Representative Graves has and continues to support.